Leader Traits in An Organization Assignment.

A leader trait is a personality or physical features that can be used to distinguish leaders
from their subordinates (Fleenor, 2006). Early research that aimed at studying leadership
identified a set of characteristics that distinguish leaders from their followers – their
psychological and physical attributes as well as their personality traits.

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Leader Traits in An Organization Assignment. Today, after advances in personality studies including the Big Five Personality approach, it has become easier to predict
leadership styles basing on traits. Significantly, charismatic leaders can be viewed as an
illustration of trait approach. A notable trait leader today is Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg is an
American internet entrepreneur, philanthropist and computer programmer who is among the
founders of Facebook, the social networking website. Zuckerberg is the Chief Executive and
chairperson of Facebook Inc. Facebook falls in one of the most competitive industry today – the
social media industry. Recently, the social media industry has experienced a proliferation of
applications and websites that seek to gain market position and topple leading social networking
sites such as Facebook. However, Facebook has been able to maintain her position in the fierce
market due to Zuckerberg’s attributes and personality traits. Leader Traits in An Organization Assignment.
Trait leadership theory also known as the great man theory is based on the assumption
that leaders including Martin Luther King Jr., Mark Zuckerberg, or Abraham Lincoln were born
with inborn leadership abilities. However, today, trait theorists argue that trait leadership may be
inborn, or acquired through learning and experience. Zuckerberg has been able to be successful
in the social media industry due to the following important attributes
The first trait is passion. In order to realize a dream there is nothing such as failure. For
successful entrepreneurs such as Zuckerberg, failure is an invaluable learning process towards
the next loop of a product or an idea (Ekaterina, 2012). Zuckerberg has incessantly been enthusiastic concerning using technology to link people, but he has worked hard to achieve it. Leader Traits in An Organization Assignment.

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Most successful entrepreneurs are enthusiastic about their work. However fortunate Facebook
has become, Zuckerberg has never yielded to offers to sale off his company or rested on his
accolade. Facebook keeps on growing because the technology giant is trailing new developments
always. The company’s passion means Zuckerberg and his followers are not afraid of failure, but
they view failure as an opportunity to learn.
The second important trait that has propelled the success of Zuckerberg and Facebook is
charisma and integrity. Psychologists refer charisma as the ‘g’ trait and it is linked with an
individual’s general mental ability (Ekaterina, 2012). Individuals with high mental abilities are
more likely to emerge as leaders in their environment. Undisputable, Zuckerberg is a charismatic
computer programing guru. Zuckerberg has been able to exploit his intelligence to ensure that
Facebook realizes its dream of a more open and connected globe. Charisma equips a leader with
emotional balance that enables them to handle vital roles within the organization. In addition,
Facebook recruits employees using a rigorous screening process in order to ensure that the
company employees individuals with the right skills that match the stipulated work. This
recruitment procedure ensures that employees who possess high integrity qualities are identified
and selected into the company.
Donnie Smith, the Chief Executive of Tyson Foods possesses similar traits as
Zuckerberg- integrity, charisma and passion. Smith believes in behaving with integrity and this
is what has enabled the food company to retain her loyal consumers and acquire new clients in
the very competitive food industry. The CEO and founder of Zappos, Tony Hsieh, an
organization that support its employees, associates the success of the corporation to investment
made in its workforce. The ability to motivate employees is key for the success of any
organization since competitors can copy its products. Facebook also invests heavily in its recruitment process and ensure only employees who demonstrate high intelligence and integrity levels are hired. Leader Traits in An Organization Assignment.
For any leader who aims at optimizing the performance of his or her organization’s
workforce effective leadership is inevitable. The effectiveness of a leadership style depends on
various factors including the demographic composition of the organization. Different situations
faced by different leader’s results in different leadership styles that aim at realizing effectiveness. Leader Traits in An Organization Assignment.

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For example, a task-oriented leader is dominated by concerns of ensuring that the job is done
(Carol & David, 2007). These types of leaders are more concerned about the outcome of the job
outcomes and as a result, they employ coercive, democratic or authoritarian means to achieve
this end. On the other hand, coercive leaders control the jobs, rewards and actions of employees
until they achieve the targeted goal (Carol & David, 2007). Consequently, the demands of the job
determine the leadership style adopted by an organization and its effectiveness towards achieving
the set end. Leader Traits in An Organization Assignment.
In brief, the trait of a leader determines the success of the organization. Mark
Zuckerberg, the CEO and co – founder of Facebook has been able to employ integrity, charisma
and passion in order to realize the Facebook dream of connecting the world. The CEOs of
Zappos and Tyson Foods have also employed similar personality traits to turn around the
fortunes of their respective organizations.

References

Carol, Z., & David, L. (2007) “Leadership Style: Is There “One Best, Or Is Flexibility Worth
Developing?” Retrieved 18 June 2014 from:
http://www.leadershipadvantage.com/leadershipstyle.html
Ekaterina W. (2012). “Think Like Zuck: Five Business Success Secrets from Mark Zuckerberg”
Retrieved 18 June 2014 from: http://soloprpro.com/think-like-zuck-five-business-
success-secrets-from-mark-zuckerberg/
Fleenor J. W. (2006) “Trait Approach to Leadership” Retrieved 18 June 2014 from:
http://www.sagepub.com/northouseintro2e/study/chapter/encyclopedia/encyclopedia2.1.pdf. Leader Traits in An Organization Assignment.